AT&T to test open access to ISPs

The company will begin allowing competing Internet service providers to use its cable systems for high-speed Net access in tests later this year.

January 2, 20024:43 PM PST

AT&T will begin allowing competing Internet service providers to use its
cable systems for high-speed Net access for the first time in trials later
this year.

The six-month trial, to be conducted beginning in November in Boulder,
Colorado, will explore the technical issues surrounding multiple Internet
service providers (ISPs) operating on the same high-speed, or "broadband,"
cable network.

The issue, known as "open access" or sometimes "forced access," has simmered
for 18 months, pitting ISPs such
as America Online and what was then MindSpring Enterprises against cable
operators such as
AT&T, with federal policymakers caught in the middle.

The cable industry called for
marketplace-driven deals, not regulatory
mandated requirements. AT&T struck a deal last year with MindSpring--now part of Earthlink--one
of the nation's largest dial-up Internet providers, to work together on a
broadband truce.

The remaining groundwork was laid earlier this year when AT&T extended its agreement with
Excite@Home, the nation's largest high-speed Net access company, which Ma
Bell largely controls. The previous exclusive deal between Excite@Home and
its cable partners caused concern among consumer groups who feared the
companies would dominate the broadband market. Ma Bell extended its pact
with Excite@Home through 2008, promising to make Excite@Home the preferred
ISP while opening its networks to others.

As part of its effort to test third-party use of its cable network, AT&T
sent letters to 10 national and regional ISPs seeking their
participation. AT&T solicited the involvement of AOL, Dell.net, Juno,
MindSpring, MSN, RMI.net, Yahoo and Denver News, a unit of Denver
Post-Tribune. Excite@Home and WorldNet, which are owned or controlled by
AT&T, also will participate.

The trial, called "AT&T Broadband Choice," will be open to a maximum of 500
consumers.

"This trial continues AT&T's leadership in the area of broadband
choice," Dan Somers, president and chief executive officer of AT&T
Broadband, said in a statement. "We were the first company in our industry to
commit to choice, we were first to agree to a set of principles with an
unaffiliated ISP to
provide connectivity, and now we're first to commit to a technical trial."

AOL and Time Warner announced similar open access plans earlier this year.